Crossroads and intersections of destiny
by Admiral Larsen
Summary: In UC 0096, as a new war is about to break out between the remnants of Neo Zeon and the Earth Federation, two people in the middle of the storm deal with its effects on themselves while trying to deal with each other.


This will be a series of drabbles that focus on two certain characters from the new OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (care to take a guess who those are). Hope you enjoy and apologize if this was done wrong.

* * *

Acknowledging and ignoring truths.

As she sat in the brig onboard the _Nahel Argama_, Mineva Lao Zabi had much on her mind. Replaying the recent events of the past of week of which she experienced first-hand; Mineva came to several distressing conclusions.

First, it seemed that war between the Earth Federation and Neo Zeon was inevitable and that with someone such as Full Frontal at the helm, this war would result in tragedy on a scale that outdid all of the others combined. Furthermore, she began to wonder somewhat irrationally if she herself had a played a role in unleashing this potential new tragedy upon everyone even though she knew that it was untrue. She remembered the looks that she received from the crew as the ECOAS soldier escorted her to the brig once word spread of her true identity. Though a few seemed open to her presence and intentions, most looked at her with almost complete apathy and disgust. Mineva could see in their eyes that some of them wanted to kill her on the spot due to her family name and that they felt that she contributed to the carnage that they had endured.

As she awaited her fate, Mineva found to her annoyance that her thoughts seem to focus on a particular brown-haired young boy with gold eyes. Letting out a deep breath, she shook her head at thinking about the boy at a time like this, particularly from what she had observed of him. To outside observers, Banagher's behavior would lead one to question his sanity. Mineva had more than enough evidence to question it herself as she witnessed most of those actions first hand.

Though she sensed that Banagher had some skill as a fighter and meant well, Mineva believed that he was way over his head and should not have attempted to intervene the way he did as it seemed to benefit no one. If he truly wanted to help her, Banagher should have tried to escape with her and the Gundam back to Industrial 7. Had Banagher agreed with her on that option, once he was safely far away from this madness, Mineva could fully concentrate on destroying the Gundam and ensuring that no one could open Laplace's Box. In this, she found herself partially agreeing with that civilian on the bridge who argued for the destruction of the Unicorn Gundam's electronic systems when her captors attempted to negotiate futilely with Full Frontal.

Despite that, a tiny part of her could not help but admit that those same actions had indeed affected her in a way that she did not expect. Throughout most of her life, Haman Kahn and others had exploited her and her position in their quest for power during the conflicts that came after the One Year War. Witnessing all that she had seen in her young life had left Mineva with a grim determination to fight to stop the oncoming storm even if that meant her death as well as distaste for the position that she was in. It also left Mineva with a haunting loneliness as she had very few people that she could truly talk to and nearly all of them had disappeared or had died in the preceding wars. In fact, during the negotiations, she sensed the reactions of the others in which they believed that she had a death wish. In a sense, she felt that she had one, as she felt that she was tired of life itself and the blood that ran through her veins. However as she began to interact with Banagher under the pseudonym of Audrey Burne, a small part of that loneliness began to fade.

In the few times that they had talked at length, Banagher seemed to speak to her in a way that she had never felt from **anyone** else had ever done before as he talked about himself, particularly in terms of being somewhat in the same position as her. At the mansion, Mineva had felt immense surprise by his statement about wanting her to need him and his help despite knowing next to nothing about her and barely knowing why she was at Industrial 7. However that paled in comparison to what had transpired onboard the Nahel Argama. As the crew of the Federation ship had its hands full dealing with an attack by Full Frontal and the Sleeves, Mineva had attempted to persuade Banagher to help her escape along with the Gundam, believing that he would agree with it right off the bat from what she had observed of him earlier back at the Vist Mansion. However, it had not gone according to plan and Banagher took her by surprise as he spoke to her, his eyes looking precisely straight at her own. When he asked her what she **wanted** to do, Mineva was at a complete loss for words, unable to answer effectively answer his question. Fortunately, the arrival of the ECOAS halted their conversation as they took her away to which she knew the exact reason why. Then there was the confrontation on the bridge of the ship in which Banagher attempted to persuade her to come with him after overhearing the conversation that had transpired earlier. At first, the annoyance that she felt towards him returned, as it seemed that he seemed unreasonably insistent on helping her despite learning who she truly was. However, that turned to surprise as well as other feelings that she wouldn't dare identify when he told her he didn't care about learning her real name, continuing to address her as "Audrey" before he left to sortie out in the Unicorn Gundam. Finally, although she hid it mostly well from everyone else, she felt a pang of guilt when she witnessed the Sleeves capturing Banagher, which increased further when the Federation REZEL pilot who attempted to help him told her in a harsh tone that Banagher had indeed called out to her during the final moments of the battle.

As she overheard that the ship would go into battle to recover the Gundam, Mineva attempted to turn back to the task. She knew that she had to remain focused or else all her efforts would truly come to naught. However as Mineva closed her eyes to meditate, a small voice continued to whisper to her, taunting her with the possibility that sooner or later she would have to deal with him even though she had no desire to do so.

* * *

Next up will deal with Banagher as he is in his room in Palau.


End file.
